In spite of improvements in dental care, many individuals experience tooth loss. This loss may be due to tooth decay, gum disease (e.g., gingivitis), or injury. It is desirable to replace a lost tooth with an artificial tooth as soon as possible. This will prevent remaining teeth from drifting out of line and possibly causing jaw problems. Also, teeth that are out of line are harder to clean and this may exacerbate any decay and/or gum disease thereof.
For many years, the treatment options for people with missing teeth were bridges and dentures. But, a bridge often requires altering nearby teeth for support. Dentures may slip in the dental patient's mouth, impeding chewing and speech, and exhibit significant inconvenience due to needing to be removed for cleaning.
Today, dental implants are available. Dental implants are replacement tooth roots that provide a foundation for permanent or removable replacement teeth (e.g., crowns or prostheses). The replacement teeth can be made to match the dental patient's natural teeth. Dental implants do not suffer from the disadvantages of bridges and dentures, and typically have a very high success rate.
Nonetheless, placement of dental implants may involve coordination between a general dentist and a dental specialist with regard to the dental patient scheduling and the components used for the dental implants. Currently this process is painstaking and error-prone. Further, dental patient medical records regarding past dental implant consultations and surgeries, as well as dental implant restorative work and the parts used in these procedures, are often difficult to obtain from other dental professionals, difficult to interpret, or even non-existent or unavailable, making it problematic to repair existing dental implants.